Indian School Of Public Policy Launched By Industry, Academia And Former Policy-Makers

The launch was flagged off by a keynote address by Shri Gurcharan Das, public intellectual and author and an inaugural address by Shri N.K. Singh, Chairperson, Fifteenth Finance Commission of India and former MP, Rajya Sabha.

The school intends to develop a new class of policy leaders for India by equipping policy professionals with knowledge, skills, wisdom and ethics to understand, design and implement local solutions to India’s enduring policy and governance challenges. The one-year, Master’s equivalent program will be a blended design of theory, perspectives and best-practices of public policy from around the world, augmented with technical, managerial and leadership skills.   ISPP has already secured the commitment of support from industry leaders like Deloitte, Uber, PwC, Twitter, Dasra, Skill India, GMR Group, Samhita and Manipal Education Group besides others who will be involved in the design of the curriculum and will also enable training and professional development opportunities.

Dr.Shubhashis Gangopadhyay will be the Founding Dean of the School. He is the Founder-Director of the India Development Foundation, former Professor at the ISI and an advisor to the Govt. of India in several capacities. 

Patrons of ISPP include Shri Nandan Nilekani, Co-founder and Non-Executive Chairman, Infosys; Former Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India; Shri Vallabh Bhanshali, Co-founder, Enam Group; Founder Director FLAME University; Shri Jaithirth Rao, Founder, Former Chairman and Managing Director, Mphasis; Chairman, Value and Budget Housing Corporation among others.

Governing Council members include Shri Luis Miranda, Chairman, Centre for Civil Society (CCS); Founder and Former Chairman, IDFC Private Equity; Member, Global Advisory Board, Chicago Booth School of Business; Shri Parth Shah, President, Centre for Civil Society (CCS); and Shri Balaji Srinivasan, Vice President, Global Initiatives and Strategy & Senior Provost University of Chicago.

Dr Parth J Shah, Member of the Governing Council, said: “ISPP is imagined as a 21st-century academic institution. It will focus on excellence and deep specialization in public policy. It will be talent heavy and asset-light i.e. it will invest in students and source the very best faculty from around the world and avoid making heavy infrastructural investments. It is also the institutional successor to several years of public policy programs that our founding council have conceptualized and run in various forms in colleges and universities across the country. Across these programs, we have trained 8000 students who have gone on to successful policy careers in India and the world.”

Dr. Shubhashis Gangopadhyay, Member of the Academic Council, said: "The establishment of a new institute invariably affords tremendous scope and possibilities to its various stakeholders and that will certainly be the case at ISPP. Our mission and aim are to build a flourishing training and research platform and a vibrant community for talented and ambitious students, faculty and practitioners. The one-year program is designed as a Master's equivalent program for working professionals and recent graduates."

Mr Luis Miranda, Member of the Governing Council, said: “ISPP is a bold initiative that re-imagines policy education and training in India. It is the coming together of the very best minds in policy thinking, design and implementation from the industry, non-profits, government organizations and academia to create the next benchmark in policy education in India and usher in a new way of thinking in the design of institutions and policies in different sectors. India is fast-changing and as it stakes its claim of being an emerging superpower, it needs a generation of young policymakers to guide this new future. ISPP is also a recognition of this need felt by industry and government organizations at large. We hope that students who had to travel abroad for better options in public policy education can now avail of a world-class and affordable option right here in India.”

The school will offer a one-year full-time program in public policy, design and management to candidates with two-three years of relevant professional experience and will offer a full waiver on fees to 20% of enrolled students.   Scheduled to commence its first session from 19 August 2018, the course fee would be seven lacs annually. For further details, please log on to www.ispp.org.in.